LONDON COLLECTIONS: LOU DALTON SS14

The current darling of British menswear Lou Dalton presents another collection stuffed full of tailoring, patterns and short suits everyone will want a piece of.

When you’re one of the buzziest names in London menswear, how best to begin your third LC:M show? With an opening track by the Smiths and a super covetable collection, of course. Lou Dalton’s man for s/s14 was the epitome of relaxed, unstructured tailoring. Heavily influenced by aviation, models sported boxy flying jackets in purple, green and grey and t-shirts spattered with codes and scrambled lettering from Royal Air Force planes. Nice, Lou. Very nice.

What really got the bloggers snapping, though, was the jacquard short suits. Cut to the knee and worn in salmon, nude and purple the suits were loose-fitting, light and surprisingly wearable. ‘It’s [the collection] the story of a young nomad, pushed from place-to-place in search of a home,’ said Lou in the show notes. What that meant was plenty of patchwork, sporty fabrics and inside-out jackets and quilting. Chunky monkey boots by Grenson, too. This nomad is well heeled.

With its aviation references, Smiths soundtrack and the odd Bermuda short Lou Dalton was the perfect sortie into yesterday’s Sunday morning shows. We can’t wait to see the salmon short suits on the street.